A Dare
by The Kunai
Summary: [Anastasia, ONE SHOT] After discovering Anya's penchant for sugary things, Dimitri dares her to try and charm her way into getting a bag of refined sugar from some shady characters...considered during the 'Learn To Do It' song, when they get to Germany.


**I DOES NOT OWN ANASTASIA FOX AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE DO**

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Title: A Dare

Author: The Kunai

One-Shot

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It was about time they made it to Germany. After surviving a train disaster, spending about two weeks of trekking through snow-covered terrain and frost-bitten villages--they got lost--and then another week and a half trekking through steadily warming-up terrain--again, lost--and then dealing with a couple of hours on a bus, all the while learning how to be a grand duchess and remembering an entire lifetime, Anya had never been so glad to be met with the smells of rotten fish, sea salt, and heavy chimney smoke. Vlad had gone about (with Pooka in tow, because he continued to squirm in Anya's arms in his haste to explore the markets) to check the times of the ship's departure tomorrow--for some reason, everything seemed delayed and dragged out, because they had conveniently arrived on a Sunday--from the city docks, and she was stuck with Dimitri shopping for the essentials so they can last on their next leg of the trip.

Dimitri wasn't too bad though, now. Somehow, he didn't get on her nerves as often as he used to, but their little verbal spars continued as if nothing had changed except for the fact that it became more fun.

And then, as she was about to make a jab back at something he had taunted her with, she suddenly saw in a store window a plethora of what could be none other than...

Candy.

Anya, despite her rough and tumble past, did have some weaknesses. One of these was her utter attraction to sweets, one of those things she couldn't really understand but she knew she had ever since she showed up at the orphanage. Anytime she had something the tiniest bit sugary, she always craved more, and something stronger incidentally. These cravings she had to keep under control for most of her life, yet when they emerged they burst out with all the burliness and pushiness they could muster, like a mule on steroids. It didn't help that she could use a snack right about then...the poor girl was almost literally glued to the glass window as she stared at the assortment of treats.

Her nose was pressed flat against it when Dimitri noticed she wasn't saying anything or following him anymore, and then he rolled his eyes.

"Having fun, your majesty?" he asked her as he came up behind the young woman. She actually flinched when she heard him, having been so focused on staring at the candies, and then she glared at him while he continued to speak, "You know, duchesses aren't supposed to smear themselves all over things like a certain mutt..."

"Well...llffff...ffluh..." Blue eyes inadvertently turned back to those glorious foods and her mouth turned to jelly.

The conman shook his head, "I see it's been a while since you had candy...but what do you like about that sickly stuff anyway? It rots your teeth and tastes bad."

Anya suddenly got her wind back and she turned to him, stabbing his chest with her index finger, "Only people with a sweet disposition can really appreciate candy, Dimitri, so don't attempt to criticize something you don't understand."

"Ha, and you're just a darling little angel, aren't you?"

"Maybe not to you, but that's because you don't know how to treat a lady."

"Fine. Prove it. Let's see if you can manage to..." His quick brown eyes soon found a small ship unloading refined sugar from it, and his grin grew wide, "...get some sugar using nothing but your so-called 'angelic disposition'."

She looked the way he looked and gulped before she could control herself.

Sailors and merchants were usually amiable persons--you know, people--but intuitively the orphan picked up a very negative vibe from them. An eternal haze of tobacco surrounded these men, as well as a layer of grime and sweat on their scarred bodies that suggested they hadn't or were not able to wash for a month or two now. There was no twinkle of kindness in their dark, sunken eyes, no trace of a smile in the elder's wrinkles or the more youthful's rings of smoke. Whenever an unusually friendly passerby waved hello, they responded with raucous shouts and obscene gestures. Was Dimitri really being serious?

Maybe she should take back the part about him being not so bad.

The girl knew she was between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, her pride was at stake. On the other, her life. She knew which one was the smart decision, but Anya's stubbornness welled up inside her. The reputation she had built at the orphanage, one of the reasons why she was loved a lot by the other children there, would be completely tarnished in her memory if she decided to back down from Dimitri's dare, especially with his pearly whites in plain sight. She forgot that she was trying to learn to be a lady rather than a tomboy, and her impulse to prove her bravery took over. Anya made a small 'humph' noise at him before giving a small smile in return.

"Alright--"

"Alright?"

"Yes, alright. But on one condition."

He tilted his head to the side some, as if considering whether to instantly accept or reject before the terms were even said.

"Name it," The conman said to her as smoothly as possible. Her pretty red lips spread upward.

In fact, she couldn't help but laugh a little bit, and it took her a couple of seconds before she could finally utter it, "If I manage to get some sugar from those guys, you'll have to kiss me--"

"--WHAT--"

"--twice. And stop interrupting me. Do you accept?"

She saw the change in expression, from one of humor, to surprise, to seriousness, and finally to flushed embarrassment. Oh well; there goes the plan for trying to save face and getting out of it...

"Were you listening?"

"What?" Anya said, scratching her head.

Dimitri repeated himself, looking quite cross, "I said, fine, but only if you'll agree to my terms--if you fail or chicken out, you'll have to lick my shoes clean for three days."

Oh, now he was asking for it. And now there was no way out of it, unless she wanted to humiliate herself even further than before. Anya furrowed her brow, extended her hand, and they shook stiffly over the agreement. Now it was time for her to follow through with the deal. As she walked away from him, she turned to look back at him every so often. He waved, she stuck her tongue out at him, and although she was venturing into dangerous territory the orphan was prepared to take whatever they could give. After all, pride was important, and if she died she would at least have died with the fact that she wasn't a coward. Although she wouldn't be able to find her family if she died now...

Surprisingly, her mind said, whatever. She stopped a couple of feet from a very large man with hefty muscles lifting up at least five crates onto a truck that was going to distribute the sugar to whoever was buying it and straightened out her skirt and strawberry-blonde hair. The girl took a deep breath, then quietly approached the man as soon as he had finished putting the crates into the back of the vehicle.

"Um, excuse me," Anya said in her sweet and shy tone, learned from total strangers, Pooka, and known to be the best way to get one of the older kids to do anything for you. The big brute of a distributor squinted down at her--for once she felt really short--and then cracked an ugly, wry smile that made her spine shiver.

"What can I do fer yeh, lil' lady?"

"Well...I...I'm sorry, this is shameful to ask," She wrung her sleeve anxiously for effect, and looked down at the cobblestone road before looking back up as timidly as possible, "...but may I please have a tiny pinch of sugar? I'll even take a couple of grains if that's the only amount of sugar you can spare..."

Now she was using her blue eyes to maximum effect. Not wondering if she was overdoing it on the innocent-puppy-eyes, she only hoped that this guy would be merciful enough to help her get away with her pride and embarrass Dimitri about something else. There was an awkward silence between them, but still Anya acted as cute as she possibly could to try and charm him, and she did not break this valuable silence even though he was examining her as if she were a small ant.

Finally, finally, he began to laugh.

"Oh, lil' girl, yeh didn' need t' be so modest an' all..." He cracked open another crate that was being passed to him, and then gave her a full half-pound bag of sugar, or at least it was around that amount. Anya smiled widely, and she said thank you and thanks over and over again, glad that the ordeal was over. Once the bag was handed to her she subtly waved her occupied right hand toward Dimitri and grinned mischievously, making smooching gestures with her lips. He seemed to be in pure disbelief...oh, she couldn't wait to tell him off for assuming she didn't have a sweet side that not a lot of people could resist--

"An' now where yeh goin'?"

Her left wrist wasn't moving with the rest of her body. She was tugged back rather harshly by the sailor and she dropped the bag of sugar onto the road, "Ah dun think I was thank'd properly..."

Confused, the girl looked up at him. Knowledge soon dawned on her, though, as her azure eyes widened while she was pulled into his thick body quick as lighting and crushing arms wrapped around her, hands trying to find inappropriate places to grab onto. With her back turned to her aggressor, she couldn't do anything but flail about heavily, scratch, and bite onto anything she could reach; this tactic usually worked but as strong as she was she wasn't quite strong enough to combat the raw brawn this man possessed, nor the fact that one hand had found the bottom of her yellow dress and was starting to crawl up her leg.

"Now, howabout sum o' mah own sugar--"

A sickening crack met her ears, and the familiar smell of the cheap cologne a certain young man wore surrounded her when the foul-smelling arms let go. The body to which the cologne scent hung onto rammed himself into the gut of the vulnerable sailor, taken completely by surprise by the right hook the boy had given him. Suddenly she was being dragged again, and Dimitri was yelling at her to run and keep up. Oh, no worries there, Dimitri--Anya was hanging onto his hand and arm for dear life.

--

"...I think they're gone..." Dimitri muttered, ducked behind a trash can. One of his arms was securely holding the spunky girl, and she in turn was holding onto his waist and watching with him for any signs of the rest of the crew wishing to get revenge for having one of their own sucker punched by a skinny little businessman. The scent of his cologne stopped her from keeling over the smell of a dead body buried somewhere beneath the pile of trash in the small alleyway they were hiding in, and never before did she think she would be grateful to know that he was around. If he hadn't moved in time, or if he hadn't been there at all, then she would have...

"Did you hear me?"

"Huh?" Anya scratched her head, staying near Dimitri nonetheless and ignoring the pain building up from squatting for so long.

"Are you alright?"

There was genuine concern in his eyes, she saw. Against her will, her cheeks were becoming the teeniest bit warm, and Anya muttered, "...I'm fine..."

She looked away from him, "But...you didn't have to do that."

He looked a little offended, "So you're saying that--"

"No, I'm not trying to say that I'm not grateful for what you did! Because I am and quit interrupting me!"

The brunette opened his mouth to say something in return, but then let her speak, and the royalty-in-training continued, "I'm just saying...you know...you weren't _obligated_ to help me out...that wasn't part of the deal..."

Her bad joke caused him to start smiling a little again, but he looked away and then sighed. The two stood at last, stretching out their legs and reassured that the crewmen were far away from them if they hadn't given up already. They held each other at arms length softly, looking down at the ground initially, and then looking back at each other again when they finally adjusted to what had taken place.

"...look, Anya..." Dimitri began. He hesitated on continuing, but then seemed to have found the right words, "...even if you didn't need my help, I would have still helped you. No one should treat a duchess like that--ever--even if said duchess does act like a tomboy and wipes her nose on glass windows."

Said duchess swatted him for his cheek. The conman chuckled.

"...besides, I did goad you into it--"

"--but I decided to go through with it--"

"--but if it weren't for my--"

"--Dimitri, stop it, it's--"

"--hey, what happened to the no inter--"

"--you did that to m--"

They continued their interruption game, escaping the foul smelling alleyway and going back onto the main street to find Vlad and Pooka. Their shopping responsibilities were forgotten at the moment, having swapped it for them walking closer next to each other, and once or twice having the back of their hands touch.

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A/N: Hopefully this Anastasia drabble will help me get going on something else I /should/ be working on...-kicks Tor- ALL YOUR FAULT.

A note...

-I know they got to Paris in about three days. However, I simply do not believe it was enough time for them to develop a particularly close relationship even if they did manage to survive some hardships--I don't really believe in true love at first sight, you see, even though I won't deny chemistry at first sight--so I took a little artistic license and decided to extend their trip so they'd at least spend almost a month together. That way, their chemistry and the excitement of their experiences can have a chance to ignite in a more realistic time frame. So yup. Go Anya and Dimitri.


End file.
